Friday, September 30, 2011

Database SnapShots...

I have been working in environments where users/analysts would like to view the state of the records in a database at a particular point in time or would like to analyse values during a particular day. Usually these kind of requests some time come up after the day in question to be analyzed has passed. In order to handle this requirement I suggested the use of database snapshots to do perform analysis. The database snapshots can be used to test performance of queries without affecting the Primary database. The database snapshots in Sql server. Please use the following link to get a understanding of how the database snapshot works in SQL Server. This feature has come in handy for me to allow the users to perform certain adhoc analysis.
The article in the link below has been written by .
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/2008/sql-server-database-snapshot/

Here is a basic syntax for creating a Database Snapshot:

CREATE DATABASE ssAdventureWorks_dbss2230 ON


( NAME = AdventureWorks_Data, FILENAME =

‘C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL ServerMSSQL.1MSSQLDataAdventureWorks_data_2230.ss’ )

AS SNAPSHOT OF AdventureWorks;

GO



Wednesday, September 28, 2011

SSRS-Document Map

In SSRS Report Builder 3.0, A document map provides a set of navigational links to report items in a rendered report. When you view a report that includes a document map, a separate side pane appears next to the report. Launch the Report Builder 3.0, open the report file (.rdl). In the .rdl, highlight the tablix control or Matrix Control for which you want create the Document Map. Right Click on Properties for the tablix Control, In the Properties window look for a property called DocumentMapLabel. Provide a Name for the Document Map. For the items in the report that need the DocumentMap, repeat the steps mentioned before. Document Maps would be very handy when reports are complex and wide, the document map would enable the user to navigate to the appropriate areas. Here is a illustration of where the property is:






Once the DocumentMapLable is set for the required items, when the report is run the document map appears on the left hand side of the Report. The Document Map Option above Parameters allows user to Show/Hide the Document Map.


Monday, September 26, 2011

SSIS...

Recently I cam across a vendor who provide SSIS package template generator for different Datawarehousing situations. It allows a developer to specify datasources, then work on choosing the business models. In the business model one has the ability to select the fact and dimension tables. Then the tool works on a generating a SSIS package which adhere to the business model. One can can then view the SSIS packages in Visual studio and edit them if it is needed. The name of the vendor is Leganto, http://www.leganto.com/, they have apps which help the developer in deploying the BI Apps faster. More details,examples can be found on the website.Quote form the website:
Discover Ready To Use BI Apps
Our BI Apps will help you deliver BI Projects
faster, reducing your average data warehouse
development time by up to 60%. Giving you the
tools to make better business decision, faster.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

SSIS Multicast...

One of the features available in SSIS data flow tasks is the Multi cast Transform. This allows us to make multiple copies of data which is fed into the Multi cast task. This task takes in a single input and the Multi cast task makes multiple copies of data available as the output, it is like xerox copy machine. Each of the outputs coming out of Multi task transform can be used in different ways in the sense that one output can be sent to a archive database destination, another output could be transformed into other forms of data. One of the uses which i have come across is where we need to push the production data down to different test/development environments, this type of package is really handy for DBA's.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

List of SSIS Packages...

In this post i wanted to highlight the availability of a standard report which lists all the SSIS packges stored in SQL Server. This report was generated in SQL Server 2005. First Connect to the Integration Services using SSMS 2005, this would bring up the object explorer, in the object exploer expand the Stored packages folder. Under this folder there is a Subfolder called MSDB, right click on the sub folder and select Reports and proceed to select standard reports. Under the Standard reports, choose general. This will generate a standard report as shown below:
The first column displays the extension of the SSIS package, which is dtsx.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Fuzzy Lookup...SSIS...

Recently I was working on a project where in there was a requirement to check the quality of data before uploading the data to SQL Server. There are a couple of tasks in the Data flow component of SSIS which allow one to scrubb the input data. The two tasks which are available are Fuzzy Lookup and Fuzzy grouping tasks. The data source for the SSIS package had a text file which contains a list of contacts that need to be scrubbed and uploaded to the database. The contact text file could have names that are misspelt or have bad characters. As per the business there can certain set of tolerance and confidence level set based on which the misspelt records could be uploaded or rejected. This is where the fuzzy lookup task comes into play. I have enclosed a sample Fuzzy Lookup editor:




In this SSIS package, the records which have a valid lookup contact in the database is sent through the Fuzzy lookup task. The output of fuzzy lookup task can then be directed to a conditional split task. There are certain columns which are in built in the fuzzy lookup that are available to the conditional split task,they are _Similarity and _Confidence. Based on the values of these two variables and business rules records can be inserted or rejected from being uploaded to the database.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

SQL Server Denali (11)...

There are some neat enhancements in SQL Server Denali with respect to the Data Warehousing/BI spectrum. The SSIS Server is going to be enhanced in a major way, there is going to be Self Service SSRS feature, there is going to be a feature called Column Store which is a new type of index, this feature is expected to accelerate queries in a datawarehouse. There is a project named Apollo where in this feature is discussed in detail. Look for the technical article :
Columnstore Indexes for Fast Data Warehouse Query Processing in SQL Server 11.0.

There has been a set of SQL Server Developer Tools Code Named "Juneau" which has been release by microsoft. Here is a breif description:SQL Server Developer Tools, Codename "Juneau" transforms database development by introducing a ubiquitous, declarative model that spans all the phases of database development and maintenance/update. One can go to the following link to check it out:
http://northamerica.msteched.com/topic/details/DBI376-HOL?fbid=T3Bixb0H50m#showdetails